ISSN (print) 0093-4666 © 2011. Mycotaxon, Ltd. ISSN (online) 2154-8889 MYCOTAXON http://dx.doi.org/10.5248/118.197 Volume 118, pp. 197–201 October–December 2011 Neolecta vitellina, first record from Romania, with notes on habitat and phenology Vasilică Claudiu Chinan 1* & David Hewitt 2 1Faculty of Biology, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Bd. Carol I, No. 20A, 700505, Iaşi, Romania 2Department of Botany, Academy of Natural Sciences 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, PA 19103 USA * Correspondence to:
[email protected] Abstract — Neolecta vitellina, one of the rarely collected ascomycete species in Europe, is reported from Romania for the first time. The species was found on the ground, under Norway spruce (Picea abies) in 2004, from the Nature Reserve “Tinovul Mare” Poiana Stampei (Eastern Carpathians, Romania). Subsequent field observations have confirmed the presence of Neolecta vitellina in the same location, in the period 2005–10. A description and photographs of the specimens are presented. Key words — Ascomycota, Neolectaceae, ITS sequence Introduction The genus Neolecta Speg. belongs to the ascomycete family Neolectaceae (Redhead 1977), order Neolectales (Landvik et al. 1993), class Neolectomycetes (Taphrinomycotina, Ascomycota). This genus includes three accepted species —N. flavovirescens Speg., N. irregularis (Peck) Korf & J.K. Rogers, N. vitellina— with clavate, unbranched to lobed yellow ascomata, up to about 7 cm tall (Landvik et al. 2003). Of these three species, only N. vitellina has been reported from Europe (Bresadola 1882, Geitler 1958, Hansen & Knudsen 2000: 48–50, Krieglsteiner 1993: 421, Landvik et al. 2003, Ohenoja 1975, Redhead 1989). Work published by European researchers about Neolecta vitellina refers mainly to phylogeny, morphology and ultrastructure (Landvik 1996, 1998; Landvik et al.